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Gary Boone

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Posts posted by Gary Boone

  1. I don't have a power conditioner but my entire system is powered through a UPS. I don't know if it's as effective as a power conditioner for protecting against lightening strikes, but a UPS is supposed to be a lot better than a $15 surge protector. I also plug all the components into a high end surge protector that's plugged into the UPS. Is this adequate?

  2. Do you think the sound improvement is because of the new caps that came with the new crossovers or is the new crossover an upgrade to the original? I haven't really researched what upgrade crossovers are out there and what they do better than the original ones. I just replaced the caps and installed CT125 tweeters. I wish I would have replaced the caps first and compared before putting the new tweeters in, but it's too difficult to maneuver the Heresys back into the corners with surrounding obstructions in the way.

  3. I've been racking my brain and still don't have a winning idea. At the company Christmas party last December, I won the best door prize, a 55" Philips 55PFL5706. I've seen it side by side against my 60" Sharp Quattron at Sam's Club and my Sharp Quattron wins hands down. Sam's would not allow me to return it for a refund because I didn't purchase it.

    The ideas I have so far:

    1. Build a HT system in my unfinished basement. Pros: Could have my man cave down there. I already have a decent spare HT sound system. Cons: I could easily spend 10 times what the TV cost in finishing the basement and building a "from scratch" HT room and would have a mediocre TV as part of it. I don't have the motivation (or expertise) to undertake such a project. I would also have to install some sort of heat source in the basement.

    2. Put the new TV in the living room (my Sharp TV is currently in the family room) and use it mainly for games. Pros: No room finishing required. I already have the sound system as mentioned above. Con's: I don't want to get hooked on games like I would be prone to do and waste my life (just my opinion).

    3. Hang it on the wall in the master bedroom. Pros: Can't think of any. Cons: I already have a good CRT there and rarely watch TV in bed and I don't want to start doing so.

    3. Save the TV and give it to my daughter as a college graduation present. Pros: She'd get a good TV (still mediocre TV to me but probably not to her if it's free). Con's: It will be a out of date TV in 3 years, she'll think I'm cheap for regifting the thing, but hey, if I'm cheap I wouldn't be paying for her college, right? The warranty will be expired before she graduates in 3 years.

    4. Sell it in the Want Ads. I haven't opened the box. What's it worth when it cost around $1000 when bought new last December, still in the unopened box? I don't really need the money, but maybe could spend the extra cash on sound upgrades to my existing system, even though I'm pretty content with what I have (subject to other opinions of course).

    Any opinions or new ideas are welcome.

  4. I bought a pair of HBRs new in 1980 and recently did an upgrade for the first time. I replaced the original capacitors with Sonicaps and replaced the original tweeters with CT-125 tweeters. I made the upgrade to just one at first and compared the sound of it to the unmodifed one and there was a very noticable improvement. Apparently the capacitors degrade with age, especially after 30+ years. I bought the parts from http://www.critesspeakers.com/

    The caps are cheap at $8.48 each times 4. The tweeters were about $80 each. You should at least replace the capacitors.

    Regarding other components to augment your system, a good subwoofer does wonders because the Heresy 1's bass drops off at about 60 Hz.

  5. My stuff doesn't even compare to most of what I've seen on this thread, but here it is and I like it. I bought the Heresy I's new in 1980 and they've survived well. The fireplace prevents a center location of the TV in the room but I think it's the best I can do. I may build a theater in my unfinished basement.

    AV setup

  6. All I've really adjusted manually, is setting the speakers to small and setting the crossover of the fronts to 80, and the center to 100. Other than the gain, what else can be tweeked. I'm new to all this.

    On the remote control, press the "ON SCREEN" button and select "SETUP". Select "Manual Setup", then "Parametric EQ". Then scroll down to the speaker you want to tune. There are 3 different methods to change the curve. I've used all 3 to get the shape I want. Just experiment and you'll figure it out. Hopefully your source for TV audio is not inferior, because you'll never get good sound from a bad source regardless of your A/V receiver.

    On screen of the EQ:

    EQ

  7. I may be too late with this. I have the same Yamaha receiver but different speakers (see my signature below). After I first got the receiver, I used the automatic speaker setup and was not impressed at all. But after I used the manual setup and tuned each speaker with the parametric EQ, the sound was dramatically improved. The different EQ features provide a lot of tuning flexibility.

  8. I'm new to this forum and actually just discovered it yesterday. It was nice to find some tech info about what I can do to give my 32 year old Heresys some overdue upgrades. I just got my Klipsch subwoofer and it's given me renewed passion in home theater and audio. Thanks to all the contributors. [:D]

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